George Gordon Bruce was born at Aberdeen on 25 August 1891. He was educated at Fordyce Academy and Aberdeen University and was awarded the Keith Gold Medal in surgery, graduating MB ChB Aberdeen in 1915. He then served as a Captain RAMC in France and the Dardanelles and was mentioned in dispatches i

Albert Henry Millard was born in Cardiff on 1 April 1915 and educated at University College, Cardiff, and the Welsh National School of Medicine, qualifying MB BCh in 1938 and proceeding to the London MB BS the following year. He held appointments at Cardiff Royal Infirmary and Barry Surgical and Acc

Eardley Lorimer Button was born in London on 9 March 1903 the son of Robert Lorimer, a merchant, and Lilian, née Naylor. He moved with the family to New Zealand at an early age, was educated at Wellington College and the Otago University Medical School qualifying MB ChB in 1925 having represented th

Selwyn Kerry Burcher came from a long-established Auckland family. He attended Remuera Primary School and Auckland Grammar School where he was head boy and captain of the school's first fifteen in rugby football for three years. He graduated MB, ChB from Otago University in 1941, undertook his house

Victor Pearse was born on 12 November 1913, the son of Arthur Victor Pearse, of the New Zealand Government Service, and his wife Constance, née Clark. He was educated at Otago Boys' High School and Otago Medical School, graduating in 1941. After junior posts, he joined up. His first posting in 1942

William James Lytle was born on 27 September 1896 at Maghera, Co Londonderry, Northern Ireland. His father, Thomas Alexander Lytle was a farmer, his mother, Mary Jane (née Moore) the daughter of a farmer, and his uncle was a general practitioner. He was educated at Rainey Endowed School, Magherafelt

George Bunton, who came from a family which had distinguished itself in the medical profession through three generations, enjoyed a rewarding career in general and paediatric surgery. He was born in Deal, Kent, on 23 April 1920, the son of Surgeon Captain Christopher Bunton RN and his wife, Emma (ne

Michael was born in Waimate, to Ronald, surgeon, general practitioner and Superintendent of the Waimate Hospital, and Mary Armstrong, a talented amateur artist. Both parents played the violin and from an early age Michael learned the piano and singing. He had a younger sister, Janet who would go on

Alfred Murray Clarke was born at Kui Kiang, China, on 11 January 1909. His father was Ernest Edward Clarke a missionary and his mother Marina, née More, was a teacher. His early education in China was from his mother and in 1921 at the age of twelve he went to Caulfield Grammar School, Melbourne, fo

Professor Jannie Louw was born on 26 May 1915 in Middleburg, South Africa, the son of a schoolmaster who later became a school inspector. He was educated at Rondebosch High School in Cape Town and the University of Cape Town Medical School, where he graduated in 1938 with distinction. After junior a

Little is known about Kathleen Frith, who qualified at the Royal Free Hospital in 1946. She subsequently trained in surgery, taking her FRCS diploma in 1952 and becoming a surgical registrar at Leicester Royal Infirmary. Later she was appointed senior surgical registrar at the Hospital for Sick Chil

Philip Sandblom was Professor of Surgery at Lund University, Sweden. He was born in 1903 in Chicago, of Swedish parents. He attended medical school in the city and did research under A C Ivy at Northwestern University, demonstrating that cholecystokinin was a hormone. He then trained as a surgeon in